Feed-water heater for locomotive boilers



July-3,1928. v 1,676,141

- L. GARRAWAY FEED WATER HEATER FOR LOCQMQTIVEJ BOILERS Filed Oct.8, 1925" SSheets-Shet 1 July s, 1928. 1,676,141

L30. GARRAWAY I FEED WATER HEATER FOR LQCOMOTIVE BOILERS Filed Oct. 8, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Lee gar/ w I 6 6mm gjwventoc July 3, 1928;

L. O. GARRAWAY FEED WATER HEATER FOR LOCOMOTIVE BOILERS Filed Oct. 1.925" 3 Sheets-Sheet Patented July 3, 1928.

' r I T 1,676,141

4 U ED T T S? LEE'o. GAnBAwnY; pr MEMrHIs, irniv'iv'nss nn. y

FEED-WATER'HEATER For. LOGOMOTIVE BOILERS.

Applicationfiled ember 8,1925. Serial No." 61.297.

This invention relates to heatersforheata 'ingfeed water for boilers, and particularly.

to heaters for use with locomotive boilers.

[The primary object of thisinvention is to efficiently utilize the exhaust steamfrom a plurality of sources wherebyto heat the feed, water to the very highest temperature possible by the use of exhaust steam before the water enters the boiler thereby eliminat-' ing the use of reservoirs or heaters that are ordinarily placed in or about boilers, the

heaters containing therein a series or network of piping for clrculatlng the exhaust it-ensteam around to heat the Water before ters the boiler.

A further object the invention is toprovide heating means. in which the exhaust steam is led over the top of the locomotive through a wide and relatively shallow pas sage extending longitudinally of the boiler and underneath the asbestos lagging thereof and resting upon or indirect contact with the shell ofthe boiler to thereby conserve;

the heatand minimize its loss.

for heating feed water which will reduce the expense of application and maintenance to a minimum, and in this connection. to. provide means for heatmg feed water whichv will be compact, simple and inexpensive and which may be readily applied'to anyboiler.

tive of an ordinary type having my inven-f from the point 20 tothe point 22 is flattened ti'on appliedthereto; Figure 2 is a front and cylinders of a locomotive my heating system. g

Figure 3'is a section on the line 8'3 of Figure 1; 1

elevation of the boiler provided with Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through one form of heater;

Figure 5 is a I top plan view of the plate 27 shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a topplan A still further object is toprovide meansv possible by the use of ex-..

- 1 From the separator 17 a pipe 18'extends upin' the accom-.

automatic valve controlling the; heating 1 the Water which passesthrough the injector.

- In Figure1,it will be seen that I have il-' lustrateolv one ,side of an ordinary. locomotive. Thislocomotive is? illustrated as having theptender A provided with the :usual water tank; and as having. the air pumps B, the water. pump G whereby water is forced into the engine boiler, and the cylinders D having the usual valve chests or chambers 03. None of these parts-have anybearing upon 1 my invention so.- far as their detailed structuregoes. 1

Disposed between the pump 0 and the. tender A is the water heater Which'in general I have designated .E. .The pump .0 takes water from this heater and pumps thewater upthrough the pipe 10, past the check valve 11, andxpastthe valve 12 into the boiler in the usual and ordinary man- 'ner.

Thusthe exhaust steam nicates, with the exhaust cavities of the I chambersd. -The pipe 15 into which the exhaust pipe 13 opens is provided. with the usual controlling-valve 16 and discharges into an oil separator 17. Extending from the exhaust port of the pump'B is a pipe 14 which communicates with the pipe 13.-

ward and partially. around the'boiler and over the top of the boiler,: and at 20 extends longitudinallyand enters between the lagging 21 and the boiler shell. This pipe to provide'a wide andshallow-passage extending longitudinally of the boiler beneath the asbestos lagging 21 thereof and resting upon or in direct contact with the shell of the boiler. At 22' this relatively wide and shallow pipe extends out" from the lagging and then extends to the heater E, as will be now described.

The heater E, as shown in Figure-4, consists of an outer casing ofany desired shape "having'an-inlet port 23 for'water andan'inlet port 24: for steam,- which. inlet port for steam v connects to the pipe 20, as heretofore described, while the port 23 communicates by I pipe 23 with the tank A. Theheaterfcasing side of the tank and the float.

is formed to provide a chamber 25 more or less rectangular in cross section traversed by two transversely extending spaced webs 26 and 27 these webs being provided with apertures 28 and 28, the apertures 28 in the web 27 being disposed to one side of a vertical plane extending diametrically throughthe heater casing, while the apertures 28 in the web 26 are disposed around thecenter of the web 26. The port 23 opens into a spray head 29 having. apertures30. This spray head is disposed on a level with the port 24 and at its upper end is formed .to provide a valve seat against which avalve 31 seats when the valve is raised, this valve being mounted upon a stem 32 which extends down through apertures in the webs 26 and 27 and carries at its lowerv end the float 33 which is very nearly, as large as the chamber 25. The lower portion of this chamber 25 has a port 34 which leads to the intake valve casing 35 ot' the pump, there being a like valve casing and chamber 36 on the opposite side of the cen* tral medially disposed piston chamber 37 of the pump.

In the use of the heater shown in Figure 4, the water from the hose 23 will pass clownward through the port 23 and, it the valve 31- beopen, into the spray head 29 where it will be discharged through the apertures 30 both downwardly and laterally through the steam space *38 which formsthe upper portion of the chamber 25. The exhaust steam will enter from the port 24 and the sprays will be discharged through this exhauststeam, condensing the exhaust steam and intermingling the exhaust steam with the feed water, and the steam and water will pass downward through the perforations in the battle plates 26 and 27 and then into the lower portion of the chamber 25. As soon as sufficientwater has accumulated in the heater, the float 33 will lift the valve 31 and prevent any more water entering the heater. As soon, however, as the. level of water drops, the float valve will also drop, permitting the introduction of more water. Thus the water will always be kept at a constant level within the heater.

The exhaust steam, it will be noted is con densed by the.sprays which are discharged from the spray head and is intimately mingled with this water. The stream of exhaust steam and water, then passes to the side of the tank E opposite the inlet port 24 and down throughthe openings 28 onto the sec ond plate or partition 26 and then across and then downward through theapertures 28, these being arranged at the center of the plate discharging the water onto the center of the float. The water runs off the float in av thin film and trickles down between-the By this arrangement the exhaust steam is condensed and thoroughly mixed and intermingled with thewater and heats feed water.

On a locomotive, however, the stopping and starting of the train, the jolts and jars to which the train is subjected, the movement of the train down a grade, etc., all tend to cause water to surge from the tank A toward the heater, and it is to' be particularly noted that in my construction, when the water surges from the tender A into the port 23, it will act to force the valve 31 downward to thus'open the valve, but this opening of the valve to any appreciable extent is prevented by the fact that the'fioat 33 is of such area as to very nearly fill the chamber-25 and as a consequence the water below this float offers a great impediment to the opening-of the valve and assuming that the chamber 25 is nearly full of water, it can open, if

at all, but very slightly and even if a slight amount of water enters through the port 23,

this will cause the float to press upward with I additional force, tightly closing the valve, so that when the chamber 25 has its fullquota of water, there can be no turtherentranceof water even when the water surges =in the tender. This is another very essential part of my mechanism, inasmuch as without this the level of water within the heater would constantly vary when the pump is in operation, there being an intermittent dropping of the float 33 and the valve and an intermittent upward movement of the valve and float. When the chamber 25 is tilled to the proper level, there will be no downward movement of the valve due to the very large size ofthe float and the fact that this float very nearly fills the cylinder. I have illustrated the heater E as being provided with a relief valve 39 of common and ordinary form whereby any excess pressure of steam or other fluidin the upper portion of the chamber may be relieved. i

In Figure 7 I show the opposite side of the locomotive from that shown in Figure 1, to illustrate the fact that I use in conjunction with the heating system shown in Figure 3 means for heating the feed Water as it passes from the injector into the boiler, the heating means being exhaust steam taken from the pipe 20. In this figure, 40 designates the feed water pipe connected to the usual boiler intake port 41. 42 designates a Water pipe connected by hose to the tender A and extending upward and entering the injector casing 43. This injector casing is of the usual construction and needs no particular illustration.

For the purpose of heating the feed water in the body of the injector 43, I provide the exhaust steam pipe 45 which connects to a valve casing 46, which valve casing is connected by a pipe 47 to the pipe 20, as at 48 (see Figure 1). Disposed within the valve casing 46 is a valve 49. This valve 49-0011- trols the passage of exhaust steam' into the body of the injector andattached to the valve is a stem 50 which extends down through the casing 46 and into a float chamber 51 disposed in the length of the pipe 40 and between the injector 43 and a check valve 52. WVhen the injectoris put in operation by shifting the Valve handle53 so as to cause water to be injected into the boiler through the injector 43, the water, as soon as it reaches the chamber 51, acts to lift up on the float piston 54: disposed in said chain boiler at the usual boiler intake port 41.

In these constructions, I provide a means for heating the feed water of locomotives which takes its heating supply from the more or less wasted exhaust steam of three different sources of supply so that this exhaust steam is condensed and flows back into the boiler along with the feed water from the tank .A and the feed water from the tank A is heated by the exhaust steam. The float 33 I regard as a very important feature of my invention inasmuch as this float maintains a predetermined level of water at all times within theheating and.

mixing chamber E. When the level of *water gets below the predetermined amount,

the float will fall, opening the valve 31 and allowing more water to flow into the heating and mixing chamber E. As soon as sufficient water has flowed into the chamber, the valve closes and cuts off the further passage of water. It is essential that the condensation and heating tank shall not be filled with water or flooded, and this I secure with the valve and float I have illustrated. All locomotive boilers are equipped with two water supplying devices and they are generally worked alternately on each trip by enginemen, and in the construction which I have illustrated, the feed water is raised in temperature from exhaust steam when,

the boiler is being supplied with water from either one or both of the water supplying dey vices; 7

While I have illustrated a construction 7 which I believe to be particularly effective and which is peculiarly adapted to locomotive boilers for the reasons above stated, I

do not wish to be limited to its use with a locomotive boiler, nor do I wish to be limited to the exact construction illustrated as this might be changed in minor matters without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims; l I

I cla1m: v 1. The combination with a locomotive having engine cylinders and steam chests therefor having exhaustports, a discharge pipe connecting said ports and leading therefrom, a feed water pump disposed upon one side of the engine and having a Water outlet connected to the boiler of the engine, and an air pump disposed on one side of the engine and having an exhaust port, of a feed water heater connected on one side to a source of water supply and on the other side to said water pump, an oil separator, an exhaust pipe leading longitudinally along the engine from the exhaust of said water pump, a pipe leadingthe exhaust from said port of the air pump to said longitudinally extend ing pipe, said longitudinally extending pipe being operatively connected through said discharge pipe to said oil separator, a pipe leading from the oil separator and passing upward and around the boiler of the engine, then extending longitudinally beneath the lagging of the boiler rearward and then downward and then extending out from beneath said lagging and then entering the heater for supplying exhaust steam from said sources for heating feed water in said heater,

2. In a locomotive, a steam condenser,

means for carrying the steam to the steam condenser including a relatively shallow conducting pipe disposed immediately against the shell of the boiler and extending under the jacket and asbestos lagging thereoef, and

means for conducting exhaust steam to said conducting pipe.

3. In a locomotive having a boiler, a jacket and asbestos lagging over the'boiler, means for condensing exhaust steam including a.

condenser connected to means whereby the water therefrom may be forced into the boiler of the engine, a pipe leading from a source of exhaust steam to said condenser including in its length a relatively wide and shallow duct disposed against the boiler and beneath the jacket and asbestos lagging and extending longitudinally of the boiler and then downward over the boiler.

In testimony whereof I-hereunto aflix my signature.

Leno. GARBAWAY, 

